(1) Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the field of cleaning brushes and more particularly to brushes for cleaning clipper blades by a barber during hair cutting process, without moving away from the cutting station, to reduce the time used in the cutting process.
(2) Background of the Invention
Professional hair groomers deal with a large amount of hair during the grooming process. Hair accumulates on the grooming table, floor, and in the tools used. Much of this hair is physically handled by the groomer as he/she manually removes accumulated hair from various hand tools such as slicker brushes, combs, and rakes. In this latter case, the groomer must use both hands and either drops extracted hair on the floor or deposits such into a waste receptacle. Almost everyone likes hair be cleaned up after grooming each person before another can be groomed at the same workstation. In practice, either hair accumulates on the tools including the clipper blades, combs and brushes etc used in hair cutting process. Clean-up time can be a substantial portion of the total time allocated to groom a person because the cut hair strands may tend to accumulate in between the clipper blades with use. Cut hair which remains between the two blades can create a space between the blades which reduces the blades' cutting ability. However, it is difficult to clean the area between the blades with a brush or the like without disassembling the blades. Thus, there is a need for methods and apparatus for more easily and efficiently removing cut hair strands from between the blades in hair clippers. There is also a need for methods and apparatus for cleaning between the blades in hair clippers without disassembling the blades.
There is a constant also a need to keep razor blades' edges sharp and to extend the life of the blades. The fact is, the useful life of a razor blade is typically undermined by common, but poor blade-cleaning processes. The common “water faucet method” of cleaning razor blades often does not fully clean the soaps and residue under the blade's cavity, which creates serious limitations to a razor's blade useful life. Moreover this requires the barber to move away from the work station and indulge in cleaning.
The prior patents disclose the concept of Cleaning brushes as explained in Razor blade cleaning brush “WO 2012121806 A2” to Terrence J. LAVERY which puts forth an inexpensive razor-cleaning brush which is made from a modified toothbrush mold and includes side guards thereon to render the brush not usable as a toothbrush and to provide for a clear visual indication that said razor-cleaning brush is not a toothbrush.
Another prior art Method and apparatus for cleaning hair clipper blades ‘U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,811 A” discloses a tool for cleaning between hair clipper blades includes an elongated handle with a comb at one end of the handle. The comb has a plurality of spaced teeth separated by openings, and a finger at one end of the comb. In use, the finger is inserted between the clipper blades, separating them so that the comb can be passed through the space between the blades, removing unwanted matter such as uncut hair strands. Further Method for removing hair from a hand-held grooming tool “U.S. Pat. No. 8,732,893 B2” as proposed by James E. Freidell gives forth a vacuum cleaning tool for removing animal hair from nearly any hand-held grooming tool is disclosed. A vacuum grooming tool is also disclosed. A vacuum plenum of the cleaning tool is attachable to a vacuum source and has an opening for cleaning a grooming tool in one pass.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an easy to wear brush on barber's fingers to be used as cleaning tool for the clipper blade without going away from the workstation. Further, there exists a need for an adjustable cleaning apparatus that can be easily used and adjusted in all fingers of hand of all possible sizes. Moreover, there exists a need for a hand held cleaning tool for barber tools to fasten the hair cutting operation and decrease the time lag due to intermediate cleaning of blades required during cutting, in a convenient and easy manner.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a cleaning brush to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.